Week 1 : The beggining

Monday 30th November 2009

Today was the first day in my challenge, even if there will be a second start in this challenge, after the surgery. Well for a first day I have to admit that it was not really productive. I had a pretty busy but really nice week-end and was really exhausted so woke up late in the morning and didn’t really do something usefull during this day.

Tuesday 1st December 2009

Nothing special today. I don’t know why but it xas really hard for me to sleep during monday night so I xoke up at 10 am. To start my endurance training, i had a 25 minutes run this morning. After that, you feel better but it’s hard if you don’t get used to do that. I’ll try to have another training like that on thursday. Tomorrow is my birthday and a day off for me. Downhill training is planed with Alex but you are not sure where we will ride. Anyway it’s sure that tomorrow will be dedicated for technical training. There are many things I want to improve in my technique : Big jumps, berms, flat turns ... Big jumps could be great tomorrow !

Wednesday 2nd December 2009

Well today was my birthday .... But in fact for me it was a day like any other ... Woke up quite early wich is better (Since a few weeks I have sleeping problems .... Not able to sleep early and of course to wake up early ...). Anyway I know that yesterday, I said that today was going to be a riding day but .... Weather decided for me ! In Fact we were supposed to go to Raismes which is a nice track for jump but today was too winday, and lso fucking wet and cold so no motivation at all ... But tomorrow is a busy day and this time, even if there is a storm outside, I will ride my bike. So tomorrow downhill in Verquin wich is a nice spot with really different things : Steep turns, rockgarden, big jumps. The only problem is that this psot is supposed to be forbiden ... We’ll see ! And also tomorrow night, Ski freestyle session with pierre who is a great freestyler so it’s going to be mint !

Thursday 3rd December 2009

That day was a great day, really ! 10.30 am, we start riding with alex. A really great downhill session in verquin, with good lines, some goods jump. Good sensations really. It start pissing down aroun 1.00 pm so we came back home. In the evening, we skied in Ice Mountain (A snowdome in belgium) wih Pierre who is an increbible rider. Backflip, Frontflip, 360, Cross, Fackie to 180. It was really impressive to see ! Personnal I didn’t ride so much because no protective gear at well and I prefere keep my knee in a good shape for the surgery. Quite exhausted after a day like that but damn how good it was !

Friday 4th December 2009

Nothing special today. Worked in the afternoon, Go-kart session at night with my sister (It was my present to her, for her birthday). Oh I forgot ! Something special !!!! New bike at home ! I bought an all mountain bike, a Rockrider 9.2. 130 mm travel front, 120 mm rear. Juicy 5 and full Sram X9. A good bike to pedal to the top and after, have fun in downhill. It’s an important thing for my preparation, because it’s gonna be good for endurance, but also technical.

Thursday 5th December 2009

This morning, xc riding with alex and S1. Really fun ! I forgot how good it could be to ride an XC bike. Sure that now it will be possible for me to ride everyday so in the next weeks, i think I will ride xc 3 or 4 days in the weeks !

Sunday 6th December 2009

Yesterday night we were in Lille with the main part of X Free Ch’Ti crew, which means Ivan, Duce, Ben, Sylvain, Pierre and Léa. We’ve been in some bars for my birthday and it was a really good night ! I was a little bit drunk so i stayed sleep in Ben’s flat in Lille. So wake up quite late this morning. This after it was digging in Olhain, to built the 2010 track.

preamble : What, why, how ?

Ok, so here we are ... So this are the answers :

- What ? Ya, I know, another blog to speak about my life .... Well yes and no. 35 weeks is a blog which speak about a challenge, or something like that. A Challenge ? My 2010 montainbike downhill season. So in this blog, every week (If it's always possible of course, even if sometimes it won't be) I will explain eveything I do to prepare this season.

Ho .... Why 35 weeks ? Because in 35 weeks, it's gonna be the second round of European Nissan Donwhill Cup in La Bresse, France. Ok I know, the end of june is not really the end of the season but this race could be a really special race for me because it's an european race but everyone can race, and also because La Bresse is really a great place. But I don't think I will stop this blog afeter the race, and probably keep writing to the complete end of the season.

Anyway so this is what is it aout .... A blog to speak, week after week, about my preparation, my recovery (I'm gonna explain that in the "Why" part), my states of mind, my feelings.


- Why ? Well, basicly just because I want to write it somewhere. I ride now since 5 years, and even if my skills improve (slowly) year after year, I want to see if a real preparation can change a lot of things in your result, but mainly in the pleasure you have riding your bike.

Also, I have to explain the recovery question. February 2009, ski holidays in Morzine. A stupid freeride run, a bad ski binding adjustement, and the result is ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears with broken bones. Shit happens ... Well after 3 rehabilitation months, it was possible for me to run my first downhill race since this accident. 1 mont later, my rehabilitation was finished and I was allowed to ride my bike like I did it before. Even if the rehabilitation was a succes, i still keep sequeals. My erector muscles on my left leg are not as they used to be, so the consequence is that my left leg is not as stable as my right leg. Also there's an ski area around my knee which is insensitive. And to finish I can't bend and tender my leg like I used to do before.

Compare to what happenned, those problems are minors. the main problem is a 6cm titanium bolt in my tibia. It is planned to remove this bolt, through a surgery. This surgery is planned at the beginning of 2010 and after that, It won't be possible for my to use my leg during 3 week, and I will have to have rehabilitation again. This is the main challenge : being able not having sequeals at all to race in La Bresse in the best shape.

Ho, and also, I decided to write his blog in english because it is always a good training for tha language level.


Now, and to conclude, How ?

It's gonna be easy. Every week (even if at some periods like after my surgery it probably won't be possile) I will write up an article, and if possible upload photos and videos.


Well, that's all, for the moment? At the moment, it's sunday 29th of november, and my challenge starts tomorrow morning.

See you next week.